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I am writing with reference to a shoddy article published on your website yesterday 29 Mar 11. Please note that I am not a perennial harasser of poor journalism – in fact this is the first time that I have been so incensed by a poorly researched and factually incorrect article that I have been prompted to complain.

“cheerleaders have been blamed for a string of poor performances from struggling Championship football side Crystal Palace”

Crystal Palace FC is unbeaten at home since the cheerleaders started performing, winning 4 and drawing 5 games – this is the kind of form that would have the club in automatic promotion places if the players performed to the same standard away from home when the cheerleaders are not present.
Incidentally, over the last 9 away games CPFC has lost 7 and drawn 2 games (i.e. with the cheerleaders the club has picked up 17 points and without them it has picked up 2).

“with the team falling to just above the bottom three”

Since the cheerleaders were introduced CPFC has CLIMBED OUT of the bottom 3, and is now 4 points clear of the relegation zone. The club has never been higher than its current position since the Crystals started performing, so ‘falling’ is an impossibility!

“Online forum users have slagged them off”

What an appalling use of colloquial English!
If Mr Attewill had checked internet forums he would have found that the majority of Palace fans are either ambivalent or in favour of the Crystals. He has certainly not presented a balanced view.

I summary, this is one of the laziest and worst informed pieces of gutter journalism that I have had the displeasure to read. Do your journalists not do any research? All of the information required is obtainable in 5 minutes (the sort of time that has obviously been taken to produce this drivel).

I would like a personal apology from Mr Attewill issued to the cheerleaders who have been maligned by this article, as well as a correction and apology both printed in the Metro and added to the website to ensure that the general public are not misled by Mt Attewill’s claptrap.

If I were an editor I would also consider it appropriate to sanction Mr Attewill accordingly: surely an example must be made to ensure that your other journalists do not consider following this lazy route?

Yes, I am a Palace fan, although my military career has precluded me from attending as often as I would like in recent times: I have been to 3 home games since the Crystals joined.

The Crystals add some much-needed vibrancy, glamour and pizzazz to the Selhurst match-day and, with us unbeaten since they started performing, they have become something of a good luck charm… long may it continue!

I hope that you see fit to apologise to the cheerleaders for your earlier article.

Yes, I am a Palace fan, although my military career has precluded me from attending as often as I would like in recent times: I have been to 3 home games since the Crystals joined.

The Crystals add some much-needed vibrancy, glamour and pizzazz to the Selhurst match-day and, with us unbeaten since they started performing, they have become something of a good luck charm… long may it continue!

I hope that you see fit to apologise to the cheerleaders for your earlier article.

I agree to an extent, although in my original email (a couple of posts further up) I very carefully avoided first person plural. He was probably trying to gauge whether it was a Palace backlash or a wider-football-world backlash!

I would like to complain about the ridiculous article on page 20 of today's Metro. What you have clearly missed is that since the Crystal's started performing we have actually been unbeaten at home with a record of 5 wins and 4 draws. The reason for our poor league position is our away form where the girls don't even appear!! You have put the name of the club and the girls through mud with this article and I would like to see an apology printed in tomorrow's paper using the same amount of space as the original article.

Honestly, with such poor examples of journalism and research being conducted it is little wonder you are a free paper.

They're a bigger and better club than us, as much as I hate to say it. We might have 20,000 plastic supporters to fill our stadium at the moment, but when their enthusiasm fizzles out we will have nothing over Palace. I actually hope they go up now just so we don't have to go through two more humiliations next season.

Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head, found my way downstairs and drank a cup, and looking up I noticed I was late.
Found my coat and grabbed my hat, made the bus in seconds flat, found my way upstairs and had a smoke, and Somebody spoke and I went into a dream

Sent to editor and copied to deputy, london office and the plank journalist.

Dear Mr. Campbell,

I write to you in reference to the article on page 20 of the Metro (Wednesday 30th March 2011) 'Scantly-clad cheerleaders to blame for Crystal Palace's poor form.' Not only is the article greatly offensive to CPFC, the supporters and the Crystal girls but it is also ridiculously incorrect in the facts it provides and opinions it 'represents.'

This 'article' claims that "fans say the cheerleaders - called The Crystals - are a 'waste of time' because they are distracting the team." and the very title of the article namely the fact 'The Crystals are to blame for Crystal Palace's poor form' are both wrong and totally unfounded. Firstly the supporters of CPFC including those on the forums number in the thousands, all of which have different views and opinions. The comments quoted by a supporter, claiming the above, are not shared by a huge number of those supporters the article claims to represent from the forums. They are in fact highly supportive of the girls and their efforts, as just a small selection of comments taken from the same site confirms:

"The Crystals are great. A bit of added fun to the matchday afternoon." - Joooe

"What is wrong with people having a laugh and a bit of fun, they are good for the club, people watch them and talk about them." - Waddon Eagle

"love palace, love the crystals" - Frazer H

"They definitely brighten up the match day experience and look like they are having fun entertaining the vast majority of the crowd . A very welcome addition to the club." - Spender

The very foundation of the article as I mentioned (Palace's poor form) is totally wrong and in itself discredits the nature of the piece. In fact rather than being to blame for Palace's league position the record of the team since the introduction of The Crystals at home matches is thus - Played 9, Won 4, Drawn 5 and LOST 0. Crystal Palace have in fact not lost a home game since October and that has been maintained during the time in which The Crystals have been at Selhurst Park. The team has earned 17 points from these games (including a win over promotion chasing Cardiff) and would be bottom rather than outside the relegation zone without this great form.

Further to this I would like to know where The Crystals have commented that "the fans should ‘grow up’." as I have not seen this comment anywhere by the girls. In fact in a recent over-hyped article by the Croydon Advertiser the girls were quoted as saying:

"The comments are quite nasty sometimes but you have to take the good with the bad. Being a cheerleader for Crystal Palace is amazing. Every time I'm standing on the pitch I get star struck. It's great to be a part of the club." - Amie

"I think people look at someone and think they know what they're like. But everybody has their own little twists. I say don't judge on first appearances." - Laura

- Croydon Advertiser (Friday 25th March 2011)

Incidentally it was from these two quotes which this 'article' paraphrases and certainly makes no mention of the suggestion that Palace fans should 'grow up'. I therefore request evidence that this comment was made to either the 'journalist' in question or a reliable source which can be identified.

Overall I am incredibly disappointed, angry and upset on behalf of the supporters, The Crystals and CPFC itself at such a poorly written piece of fiction that fails to identify any real facts with an ounce of truth within them. As such I would expect that the Metro issues a retraction and apology to The Crystals within its next issue and corrects its many mistakes made. Until such time I (and I know many more Palace fans) will not be reading the Metro.